


Beautiful. Ordinary.

by infernalandmortal



Series: The Best by Far (A Next-Gen AU) [1]
Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Pining, Romance, i already ship these two lol, i promise I've written more about them than the one chapter I've posted here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 10:32:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9543881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infernalandmortal/pseuds/infernalandmortal
Summary: He knows where his hope lies.  He tries to hate it and fails.She is beautiful.  She is ordinary.  She is not his.(Alexander Van Eck is in love. He's not handling it well.)(Part of my next-gen AU)





	

He watches her pick through the files under the floor, the dim sunlight catching hold of her hair, holding it in place.  Her slim fingers trip over the papers, the scar over the back of her left hand flexing as she reaches for a new page.

She is beautiful.  She is ordinary.

He catches himself staring, looks away, focuses on the wall behind them. There’s a dent in the paint he hasn’t catalogued yet and he memorizes it the same way he’s memorized the freckles on her neck, the way she laughs, the curl of her lips when she’s had enough of the world.

She is beautiful.  She is ordinary.

“I’m done.” Her voice is clear.  It rings through the house like the cry of a ghost.  “Why were you looking away?  It’s not like I was naked or anything.”

_ Because you could blind me,  _ he wants to say but she would only laugh.  She doesn’t understand that her eyes are like the harbor at midnight and he’s fallen in one too many times to allow himself to drown.

“Didn’t want to see something I shouldn’t,” he said in reply, letting her leave the room first, watching her slide down the bannister the way she likes.  Victoria’s in the living room, her pacing feet kicking up dust on the floor.  She gives Jordan a high-five when she hits the ground.  Jordan laughs, shakes the cobwebs from her blunt-cut hair.

She is beautiful.  She is ordinary.

“Waffles?” His sister asks, wrapping a green scarf around her neck.  “I’m starving.”

Jordan pulls her coat over her shoulders.  It’s dark blue and makes her look like royalty, if royalty had a harsh Kerch jaw and a soft smile.  

She is beautiful.  She is ordinary.

They leave the not-so-abandoned house together.  Jordan looks back and Alexander can see the wheels of her mind turning.  She’s imagining people in the house, lights in the windows.  She’s imagining hope the way she often sees it.

_ What is hope to you, Jordan?  _ He had asked her once.  She had laughed it off, turned serious when he refused to let it go.  He can still feel her sharp eyes on his when she answered.

_ Hope is waking up and hearing the house alive.  Hope is seeing my father on a good day.  No gloves, no coat, just rolled-up shirtsleeves and black tea left too long to cool.  Hope is justice. _

He knows where his hope lies.  He tries to hate it and fails.

She is beautiful.  She is ordinary.  She is not his.


End file.
